Court frees rapists, throws out victim, saying she is too ugly and masculine to be raped

An appeals court in Italy is under severe attack amidst protests after its widely condemned verdict on a rape case involving a Peruvian woman.Could we expand the conversations against rape to victim protection? (RadioTV10)

Reports say in 2017, an all-female panel overturned an earlier court ruling in 2015 which saw two Peruvian men sentenced for raping the said victim.

The appeals court’s reason for overturning the lower court’s ruling was that the victim was not only too ugly, but also too masculine to be a credible rape victim.

Although the controversial verdict was given about two years ago, its reason was not known until a High Court ordered a retrial on March 5, prompting widespread condemnation and a protest on Monday outside the Ancona court, with protestors holding placards bearing various inscriptions such as “Shame!” and “indignation”.

The unnamed victim’s lawyer, Cinzia Molinaro is reported as saying one of the things she contested in the appeals court’s controversial ruling which is now prompting a retrial is the “absolute unacceptability” of the court’s reference to the victim’s physical appearance as a basis for its verdict.

According to reports, the ruling has since left the victim traumatised.

What is equally intriguing about the controversial verdict if the fact that it was given by an all-female panel of judges, raising the question of where their sense of feminism was.